The Constitutional Studies Program at Notre Dame, a JMC partner program, and the Tocqueville Program will host John Yoo, of UC Berkeley, and Michael Desch, of Notre Dame, for a debate on the merits of American involvement in promoting democracy abroad. Is promoting democracy abroad good or bad for democracy at home?

John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He also directs the Korea Law Center, the California Constitution Center, and the Law School’s Program in Public Law and Policy. An expert on executive power and the Constitution, his most recent books include Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War (Encounter, 2017) (with Jeremy Rabkin) and Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Michael Desch is the Packey J. Dee Professor of Political Science and founding Director of the International Security Center at the University of Notre Dame. He has worked on the staff of a U.S. Senator, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the Department of State, and in the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service. His most recent book is Cult of the Irrelevant: The Waning Influence of Social Science on National Security(Princeton University Press, 2019).

The Constitutional Studies Program at Notre Dame, a JMC partner program, is a minor that seeks to educate students on constitutional governments and how they may be used to secure the common good. Thoughtful and educated citizens must possess certain virtues; they must understand and be able to implement, defend, and, if need be, reform constitutional institutions. By creating informed citizens, the program contributes to the University’s mission to pursue truth and to nurture a concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice.

The Tocqueville Program at Notre Dame fosters the study of the role of religion in America’s constitutional republic. Through public lectures, debates, conferences, and fellowships, the Tocqueville Program seeks to nurture informed conversation, learning, and scholarship about the fundamental principles of a decent and just political regime with a particular focus on religious liberty.